Sexy Princess Leia is bad. Sexy General Leia might be even worse. (If you’ve come across sexy General Leia art, don’t tell me.) Late last year, Carrie Fisher died. She was sixty-one. This week her last on-screen performance, as General Leia Organa, leader of the Resistance, hits theatres. The Last Jedi is—not by design, though…
Mudbound: A Gorgeously Shot Drama About Southern Racism
Mudbound Dee Rees (director), Rachel Morrison (cinematographer), Mako Kamitsuna (editor) Adapted from the Hillary Jordan novel by Dee Rees and Virgil Williams Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige (cast) January 21, 2017 (Sundance), September 10, 2017 (TIFF), November 17, 2017 (USA) Mudbound is a raw, historical family drama with a…
Backlight: Hollywood Is a Hellscape But There’s Still Some Cool Projects to Look Forward To
The New York Times published a major investigative piece this week exposing decades of sexual harassment by Miramax head, Harvey Weinstein. NYT used a combination of named and unnamed sources, internal documents, and legal filings from settled claims to piece together a story of thirty years of using his position to manoeuvre women into uncomfortable…
Disobedience Is A Slow-Burning Portrait of Grief, Love and Community
Disobedience Sebastián Lelio (director), Danny Cohen (cinematographer), Nathan Nugent (editor) Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, Alessandro Nivola (cast) Adapted from the Naomi Alderman novel Disobedence by Sebastián Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz September 10, 2017 (TIFF) Sebastián Lelio made two films this year about women being denied access to the formal grieving process of their society. In…
A Fantastic Woman Is Fantastic
A Fantastic Woman Sebastián Lelio (director), Benjamín Echazarreta (cinematographer), Soledad Salfate (editor) Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes, Luis Gnecco, Aline Kuppenheim, Nicolas Saavedra, Amparo Noguera, Nestor Cantillana, Antonia Zegers, Sergio Hernandez (cast) Released February 12, 2017 (Berlin), April 6, 2017 (Chile) Marina and Orlando enjoy a night out to celebrate their relationship, which is only a…
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women Is Not Wondrous
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women Angela Robinson (director and writer), Bryce Fortner (cinematographer), Jeffrey M. Werner (editor) Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall, Bella Heathcote, JJ Feild, Oliver Platt, Connie Britton (cast) September 9, 2017 (TIFF), October 13, 2017 (USA) I met Angela Robinson, writer and director of Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman, at San…
mother! Is Unbearably Corny
mother! Darren Aronofsky (director and writer), Matthew Libatique (cinematographer), Andrew Weisblum (editor) Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer September 5, 2017 (Venice), September 15, 2017 (USA) There are three ideas in mother! and they’re all garage sale specials, ground so well trod by Hollywood that the film’s last minute twist is both guessable early…
Backlight: Women In the Director’s Chair
Seeing Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman turn into a huge commercial success is a special kind of schadenfreude. Superhero and other popcorn action films have been been particularly resistant to give female directors a chance, even while allowing mediocre white men to fail upwards, from mild indie successes to headlining major franchises. But it’s too easy…
Submissions Open for “We Told You”, a Joss Whedon Zine
Bleating Heart Press is making a zine! We Told You is a 50-page zine about the problematic work and activism of writer, director and producer, Joss Whedon. When Whedon’s ex-wife Kai Cole wrote about the breakdown of their marriage, dozens of think pieces were published examining his most recent works and the too common trend…
The Dead Game of Thrones: Who Do You Want to See Die?
Game of Thrones is a show that we both love and hate. We got together to examine what keeps us watching and who we most want to see die next. What keeps you watching Game of Thrones? Wendy Browne: Masochism. But seriously. I am and have always been invested in these characters from both book…
2017 Comics Journalism and Critics Survey
Many people in comics feel uncomfortable discussing money. Many more feel uncomfortable confronting editors or employers about issues in the work environment. I decided to poll comics journalists and critics to find out: who they are, how much money they’re making, and how comfortable they are doing their work. This unscientific survey is open to…
Crying About Animal Comics With Jill Thompson
The day after Jill Thompson wins three Eisner Awards we manage to squeeze in a few minutes to talk. Unsurprisingly, everyone wants to talk to her. I’d been planning to interview for weeks and had a slate of questions for her all about Beasts of Burden: What the Cat Dragged In, her Dark Horse one…